Vindicated
by Poetic Pixie
Summary: DG "I was always Draco’s, Harry . Long before you thought of me as yours" One shot


AN- This was born as a welcome to my muse. While writing the first chapter to my other fic this just kind of appereded. Yes this is Draco/Ginny. If you don't like it leave, now.  
Disclaimer-I don't own it. Plain and simple.

* * *

"He's dead." The cold impersonal words left the lips of the stern faced welcome witch at St. Mungo's. She stared at the person in front of her, scorn open in her eyes as she saw tears threatening to leak out of the ones in front of her. The witch sneered, and it was on the tip of the tongue to ask why this person should care so much about a dead Death Eater. 

But in an instant the visitors face hardened into a frozen mask. The eyes that were just a moment ago filled with tears grew as hard as stone and she turned on her heel and left. The abrupt change chilled the welcome witch to the bone and only then did she recognize the woman who'd just departed.

Grabbing a quill she wrote a letter to the first friend she could think of

_Margaret,_

_Ginny Weasley just came in and guess who she asked about?__

* * *

_

During war people will take something, anything, to keep their minds off the pain and chaos around them. Gossip was a good way of forgetting, people thought about trivial romances and the like instead of talking about the death that tainted the air. 

And though the war was know over the gossip still ran rampant, whispers of Voldemort's successor and of Death Eaters still on the loose entered the ears off all who would listen, and even better rumours, one concerning Harry Potter and his fiancée were just as common.

Talk of the wedding and the happy couple was ordinary. There was also scandal, rumour that Ginny didn't appreciate Harry enough, after all the Boy Who Lived deserved the very best.

The gossip reached the ears of the so-called happy couple. And they never did anything to either support or deny the rumours. They remained unproven speculation. Until one talkative welcome witch leaked a story to the press.

* * *

The news arrived in stark text. In plain black and white it was delivered to Harry at his desk in the Department of Law Enforcement. He'd become an Auror like everyone wanted. Like he wanted. 

The magazine was thrown onto his desk by a slightly agitated Ronald Weasley. It was the current _Witch Weekly_.A motherly looking woman winked up at Harry, her wand creating a beautiful cake. One of the sub headings reading 'Trouble in Paradise for the Boy Who Lived?'

Harry simply stared at the magazine, sure, there'd been lots of rumours about him and Ginny. So what? He looked up at Ron, the question prominently in his eyes.

"Just read it." He said gruffly.

Harry read the article quickly, his face turning white then red. "This can't be true, _Witch Weekly_ is almost as bad as the _Quibbler_ sometimes. You know that. Besides why would Ginny care if he's dead or alive?"

"I asked Hermione and she wouldn't tell me anything. But, I don't know, something about it tells me that it's true."

"Well I'll ask her about it tonight."

"Ask what exactly?"

Instead of answering Harry quoted the article. "'Edna Edwards, a welcome witch at St. Mungos told _Witch Weekly_ that when she told Ginevra Weasley that the Draco Malfoy was dead she 'started to tear up, she looked like she'd seen a ghost. I've seen similar reactions with wives and husbands who've learned their spouse is dead.'"

"Don't worry bout it Harry, probably just another rumour. The press had nothing better to do anyway."

"Yeah, sure."

* * *

Harry left work early and apparated into the small flat he shared with Ginny. The flat was empty and he knew that she usually was home by now. 

Telling himself that she probably just met up with friends or something he walked around the apartment. He tried to distract himself by watching TV (wizards had discovered TV during the Second War) but he couldn't stop thinking about the article.

He thought back to when he finally realized just how special Ginny was. It was during seventh year. And when he finally told her she'd informed him that she felt for him the same way she felt for Ron.

But after Percy's death Harry was the only one around who could comfort her. They were both together on a mission for the Order and couldn't contact any of the other Weasleys. During that mission the two had gotten closer together and after a while they'd just suddenly been a couple.

But now that he thought about it he remembered things that he'd purposefully kept out. The sad smile she'd had after their first kiss. Her eyes, full of memories, after their first date. The odd distant look she sometimes had when they made love.

The door opened sharply, snapping Harry out of his thoughts. Ginny stood at the doorway, clutching a handbag and taking off an impossibly thick coat. There was snow in her hair and she looked frozen to the bone.

Harry vaguely wondered were she had gone and why she hadn't apparated before he quickly crossed the room and enveloped her into a hug. Wanting for some reaction from her to dispel the worries that had run through his mind.

But she didn't move closer or wrap her arms around him. Ginny just stood there, her hair beginning to grow damp from the melting snow and her wet boots making a small puddle on the floor. Harry stepped back and looked down at her. One look in her eyes and he knew.

Every word in the article was true.

* * *

Ginny numbly felt Harry withdraw from the one-sided hug. She didn't know were he'd gone and she didn't really care. All she knew was that Draco was dead. Today she'd seen his cold body, lowered in the ground. 

He wasn't buried in his family's cemetery but behind a simple church. Near the graves of so many other people who had died in the war.

Not many people had shown up for the service. Snape was there, so was Dumbledore and a surprisingly teary McGonagall. Blaise Zambini was there, along with a few other Slytherins. Pansy had come, shooting Ginny a look of pure hatred as she entered the church.

The service had been simple enough, and Ginny had stayed with Draco long after everyone had left. She vaguely remembered crying and talking. The cold air hadn't even registered until she realized how dark the sky was. Slowly getting up she'd walked home. Thinking all the way.

She remembered so much, the tears made her face icy cold. She remembered the way he would say her name. Soft and quickly, like it was a precious treasure and if he drew it out then she would be taken away from him. The gentle way he'd take her hand during the few moments they were together.

She remembered the last time she'd seen him. He'd proposed, though they'd often talk about marriage he's never gotten down on one knee. And when he had she'd been over come to answer. Just dumbly nodding Ginny remembered crying at the joyful look in his face. She now couldn't believe that she'd ever cried with joy.

He'd promised they'd get married the next day. But then he was called away on a mission, so quickly he couldn't say goodbye, and simply never come back. She remembered that Draco and one made her promised that if anything happened to him that she'd move on and find someone else. So she'd tried, always believing that Draco would return from his mission one day.

But the Aurors had found a chamber that held numerous Death Eaters and some members of the Order a few days ago. The magic in the air hadn't allowed the bodies to decompose at all and no one knew how long they'd been there.

The names of the people they'd found weren't announced to the public but the paper had said that you could find out if you'd go to St. Mungos. So she'd gone and asked and finally found out the truth.

And Ginevra Wesley finally realized what it meant to feel like the world was crashing down around you.

* * *

Ginny dazedly went to the couch, feeling tears trickling down her cheeks. She couldn't remember a time when she couldn't feel the dull ache in her chest. Couldn't remember when she'd last not wanted to just break down and cry until death took her back to him. 

She heard Harry's footsteps as he walked towards her. Ginny remembered that Draco would always tread as lightly as a cat. She never heard him come, but she could always feel him near by. She never felt that way with Harry.

She looked up, willing him to just leave her with her misery. Harry just stared down at her.

"Why? Why him? He was a bloody Death Eater! He wanted to kill all the muggles and muggle borns! If he and his master had their way the world would be chaos, you'd be dead! We'd all be dead! What made him so special? He'd never realize how beautiful and sweet and pure you are!" His voice held barely controlled anger. Harry wished dearly that Draco was alive so he could kill him. "I love you. He probably didn't even know what love was. He couldn't have ever felt for you as I do everyday!"

"I haven't been pure for a long time Harry. Did you know that? Or have you been to wrapped up in yourself to notice? The Boy Who Lived on one who single handily saved us from Voldemort. The man who has been through unspeakable things, the hero of the entire fucking world. He doesn't need to think about little things like his own damned fiancée right?" Unlike Harry, Ginny's was soft and deadly. "Harry, you deserve so many things. You deserve a girl who'd love you so much that she wouldn't mind all of this. But I'm not her. You might love me that much but he loved me more. I was always Draco's. Long before you thought of me as yours"

* * *

Ginny walked past him to their room. She heard him leave as she started packing her things. Almost done she reached a jewellery box. It was small but beautiful. Inlaid with carvings of delicate flowers it only held one thing. That piece of jewellery hadn't been disturbed in almost three years. Since the last time she'd kissed Draco. 

Slowly she opened it. She slipped on a simple ring where her engagement ring had resided until she'd learned of Draco's death. It was a thick silver band, carved with the image of a dragon on along it's width. It wasn't the most extravagant thing he'd ever given her but it was the last thing, the most precious.

Surveying the room one last time and deciding she had everything she needed she apparated out of the flat, leaving behind only a diamond ring.

As she left Ginny felt a warm wind wrap itself around her. The embrace reminiscent of one she'd felt so long ago.

* * *

AN- Please review, reviews are like food. Without them I'll wither up and die. You wouldn't want to kill me would you (Puss in Boots eyes) 


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